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Senior Assistant Professor Junji Dan discovered the effectiveness of custom-made orthotic therapy for joint deformities in elderly goats and sheep atFukuoka Campus

Junji Dan, Senior Assistant Professor the Department of Physical Therapy Faculty of Fukuoka Medical Technology, introduced custom-made orthotic therapy for joint deformities in elderly goats and three sheep at Omuta City Zoo and found it to be effective.

Senior Assistant Professor Dan and Omuta City Zoo began a joint research project in 2020 after being consulted by a veterinarian at the university festival. Since then, they have regularly visited the zoo, working with veterinarians and zookeepers to provide animal care and ongoing support. Working closely with the zoo staff, they have gone through trial and error, from material selection to molding methods, to develop custom-made orthotic devices tailored to each animal's condition. The differences in the developed orthotic devices themselves demonstrate the importance of individualized care in elderly animals. All three animals that wore the orthotic devices were able to maintain independent walking, significantly contributing to an improvement in the quality of life (QOL) of elderly animals.

The results of this research were highly praised as a new model case of Community Engagement demonstrating that knowledge from physical therapy can be applied not only to human welfare but also to animal welfare, and were published in Volume 31, Number 1 of the Journal of the Japanese Society of Wildlife Medicine on March 23, 2026 (Monday). Furthermore, this paper is the first study from the field of physical therapy to be submitted to the Journal of the Japanese Society of Wildlife Medicine, and as a result, a new field called "Rehabilitation Medicine" was established in the journal, and this research became the first paper published in that field.
Senior Assistant Professor Dan has been continuously working with Omuta City Zoo to improve the care and welfare of elderly animals, and the publication of this paper represents academic recognition of these community-based practices and contributions.

At Fukuoka Campus, we will continue to promote educational and research activities that contribute our expertise in medical technology back to society, in collaboration with the local community.

Click here for information about Senior Assistant Professor Junji Dan.
Click here for the Journal of the Japanese Society of Wildlife Medicine.

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